


Need to know

by Pegship



Series: Castle Episodic [18]
Category: Castle
Genre: Episode: s08e14, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 20:44:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9141502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pegship/pseuds/Pegship
Summary: A conversation I imagined taking place between Castle and Alexis, on the plane on the way back to New York, after Castle discovers what happened in L.A.





	

Alexis never could sleep on a plane. She envied her dad, who could sleep anywhere and wake up in plenty of time for whatever he was doing next.

("Raised backstage, and in miscellaneous dressing rooms," he'd told her once. "I'm good at power naps.")

Now she looked over at him, slumbering in his usual aisle seat, hands folded loosely in his lap, shoes off, breathing quietly, and she knew nothing short of major turbulence would wake him before the final approach. Well, almost nothing.

She shifted over a bit and laid her head on his shoulder and felt his breathing change immediately.

"Alexis?" he murmured. "You okay, honey?"

"I'm okay, Dad. You okay?"

"Sure." He took her hand and patted it. "What's on your mind?"

He always knew when she needed to talk. She sighed.

"I know you and Hayley talked about your lost time, and what happened," she said. "And I don't necessarily want to know what happened. Unless you think I should know."

"Hm." He made a sound to indicate he was listening, so she went on, encouraged.

"I have two questions at the moment, though, that I think you should answer," she said firmly. "First off, does knowing what you know now put you in any more danger than before we came to L.A.?"

Her dad took a minute to think before answering.

"First off - I don't actually know much more than before we came," he said quietly. "But if someone's keeping tabs on me, they don't know what I don't know or what I do know."

"I'm alarmed to say that I think I know what you mean," said Alexis. "The fact that you went to L.A., and that you visited the restaurant, and that I followed the trail to McCabe - "

"Whoa, hold it right there," said her father. He sat up straight and she lifted her head to look him in the eye. "Nothing that you have done has put me in any danger. More important to me is that it didn't put you in any danger. Hayley - Hayley's another story."

Hayley had stayed behind in L.A., ostensibly to catch up with old friends. Alexis figured Hayley wanted to give the Castles some time to digest recent events without her.

Alexis shook her head. "You said that she didn't know what went on either, just that she was asked to keep an eye on you."

"Which, as you know, is a difficult job on a good day." He smiled a little, then sobered. "I haven't sorted out what little information I've gleaned from this experience, but I don't believe it has any bearing on your safety, or mine. Next question."

"Are you going to share what you know with Kate?"

He looked mildly startled, as if the thought hadn't occurred to him, but in the next moment he said, "It never occurred to me not to tell her."

"Good," said Alexis. "Because even though I'm worried about what happened to you, and even though you'd rather not share the whole story with me… you shouldn't try to figure this out alone."

"You mean, like she - "

"Dad," Alexis said reproachfully. "Don't. She did the wrong thing for the right reasons, and then she did the right thing coming to you and admitting it. You're both on the same page now - I just want you both to stay that way."

"You're right," he sighed. "We did say no more secrets. I need to live up to that as well."

"That's not why I asked, though. I just want you to know that as long as you keep Kate in the loop, that's good enough for me. For now."

His smile was confident, as was Alexis' return smile. She lifted her hand and he hooked her pinky finger with his own.

"Fair enough," he agreed.


End file.
